As a sports nutritionist who works with professional and competitive athletes, including tennis players, I’m always on the lookout for tips and tricks that give my clients an edge. An in my 10-plus years of practice, not a week goes by that we don’t learn more about how particular foods and nutrients help the body operate like a well-oiled machine. Each one of your body’s 100 trillion cells relies solely on what you eat and drink to fuel your performance and help you recover. And while sports nutrition isn’t an exact science, there are plenty of tried and true techniques every tennis player should know.

The 20 Things You Need to Know About Nutrition

17. Drinking Water May Help You Lose Weight
A recent study found that adults who simply gulped two cups of water before meals enjoyed a major weight-loss benefit—they shed 40 percent more weight over a 12-week period while following a low-cal plan identical to a second group of dieters. The same group of scientists previously found that subjects who drank two cups before meals naturally consumed 75- 90 fewer calories, an amount that could snowball day after day. According to the Institute of Medicine, women 19 and over need 2.7 liters of total fluid per day (about 11 8-oz cups) and men need 3.7 (about 15 8-oz cups). But that’s total fluid, not just water. Foods provide about 20 percent of your needs, which still leaves nearly nine cups of fluid to go, so if water is the only beverage you drink, eight glasses a day is a smart strategy.